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{Self-Care Challenge} Day #2 – Write Yourself A Love Letter

Sometimes in the mornings, I can count five negative statements before a positive one rolls off my tongue.

“Ugh, my hair is too dry.”

“Shouldn’t have eaten that cinnamon roll.”

“When’s the last time I painted my toenails? They look a mess.”

“My boobs just ain’t what they used to be.”

Enough is enough!

I want us to start thinking and speaking positively about ourselves.

Day #2 challenge is to write yourself a love letter.

Doesn’t have to be a long letter, but long enough to make you feel thoroughly excited to be…you. Here’s my letter below. If you chose to publish yours, feel free to link to it on the comments, or even paste it in the comments below:

Dear Tara, 

2011 was a doozy for you. We can admit that, right? You struggled a bit with the new reality of being self-employed and of being the full-time caretaker of two young kids. But guess what? You did it. You wrote a book. You published 175+ blog posts. In the last six months of the year, you edited 25 manuscripts and volunteered in your daughter’s classroom numerous times. 

You make sure everyone is taken care of and you do it well. You have no problem sacrificing your time or sleep or money to make sure your family has what they need. You are a generous person with a heart the size of Texas. You love hard and you never stop thinking of ways to be a better woman, wife, sister and friend. That counts for a lot. 

I want you to ease up and cut yourself some slack. You’re awesome. And every day you should know that. 

Go on and write yourself a love letter. Let’s see how you feel after you write it. 

Day #1 challenge update – So I went to Target and bought some nail polish. This is a big deal because it’s OPI nail polish, not the cheap $2 (or lower) kind that I usually get. So I splurged on myself – it felt great! :)

 

{Self-Care Challenge} Are You In?

I had a meltdown over the weekend due to some mounting stress that I had no outlet for.

You see (and this is hard to admit), I have no life outside of my children and my husband. I rarely hang out with my friends anymore, I’m working long hours and I spend 80% of the day with a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old. Don’t get me wrong – I love my kids and my family is thriving right now.

But I’m not thriving. Big things are happening, sure, but in terms of my self-care, things have been lacking a bit.

So I’m introducing a new self-care challenge this week. It’s been two years (really?) since my last Happy Mom challenge and I feel the need to do it again.

Join me on Twitter this week with some fun ways to take care of yourself first.

Day #1 challenge Get a new accessory. 

Depending on your budget, it might not be possible to go shopping so often. But you can usually squeeze out $5 for a cool bracelet or pair of earrings. Check out some Etsy finds:

[GIVEAWAY] “The Date Deck,” A Must-Read Book For Couples Stuck In A Date Night Rut

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For a strong four years after we had our two kids back to back, my husband and I rarely had date nights. Sure, we’d sometimes find ourselves on the couch together at the same time on a Friday or Saturday evening and we’d pass the time by watching a movie together, but that wasn’t “date night.” That was “I’m tired and you’re tired and these kids wore us out and my God why did we decide to have two of them” night.

It wasn’t until 2014, honestly, where we took a good hard look at our marriage and realized that what we were doing (having honest to goodness date nights only on anniversaries or birthdays) was killing us slowly.

See, date night tends to get neglected when you’ve got so many other responsibilities vying for your time and money and energy. For many couples, it’s just plain ol’ expensive to go out on regular dates. Once you factor in the babysitter and the actual date itself, it definitely seems easier to just stay home and relax on the couch.

We could have benefited from a book like Esther Boykin’s “The Date Deck. 

In the few short months that I have been reading her site religiously, I have become a huge fan of Esther and all she represents. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist and relationship coach who is passionate about helping people build healthier and happier relationships (AND she will be speaking at this year’s self-care retreat!).

SEE ALSO: 5 DATE NIGHTS THAT ARE EASY ON YOUR WALLET AND HEAVY ON THE FUN

In this book, she not only gives you ideas for date night, but she also explains why each date has significance and when you might want to put it in rotation. (For example, when you’ve been fighting and bickering, staring deeply into the other person’s eyes on the lake might not be the best idea.)

It’s a quick read and gave me ideas to spice up our dates. But most importantly, reading the book reminded me that I have a good thing in my relationship and it’s important that we recognize date night for what it really is: an opportunity to connect with each other. Her book is a must-read, not just for the date night suggestions, but also for the fact that she has given you an easy-to-use tool to create a more intimate relationship. (I also recommend her 14-day love challenge, as it helped me create a stronger relationship with my husband in just two weeks.)

I’m giving away a copy of The Date Deck to one lucky reader. To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment below on how often you date your significant other (once a week? a few times a month?). I’ll pick one winner on August 14 at noon. Good luck!

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Confession: I’m Scared Every Day

nature-sunset-water-clouds

Last December, I was in the biggest funk of my life. If I wasn’t actively doing something with my kids, I was in the bed, attempting to sleep the day away.

It hit me that the “sadness” I was feeling was actually depression and it stemmed from a number of things and past traumas that I never quite worked through. After seeing a therapist and making strides to get better, I decided that I was going to make 2015 the best year ever.

And I have. I launched my Self-Care Retreat, published a new book, hit a professional milestone that I can’t wait to share with you in the upcoming weeks, and much more.

But I’d be lying if I said that I’m always confident. I’m not. Most days I have to give myself pep talks and breathe slowly through my fears. Because it can be terrifying when you are “living your life like it’s golden.”

So how do you make it through your doubts–those voices that tell you that you can’t have what you want? Here’s what I’d advise:

  • Remember your gifts. You have a very certain set of talents that you can tap into to achieve whatever goal you have. Are you creative? Use that. Are you talkative? Use that. Are you thoughtful? Yes, use it! Everything you need to realize your dreams is already within arms’ reach.
  • Breathe slowly. It’s easy to let those doubts overpower your confidence, to make you feel like maaaaybe you ain’t cut out for this after all. But just breathe deep and talk back to those voices. They don’t know you. You got this.
  • Take one action to shut up your inner critic. The longer you wait and listen to the doubts, the more power that inner critic is going to have. Action is the enemy of fear.

Trust me, there are lots of days when I don’t feel so confident and I go running to my husband and girlfriends for support. And in the meantime, I follow those three steps above and I go for it. The only thing you have to lose is your fear. And isn’t that the point?

#SmashYourGoals – 5 Steps To Successful Goal Setting (Part 3 – Baby Steps)

smash your goals series

You’re reading my five-part goal setting series to help you #SmashYourGoals. Read the other four tips here.

1) Determine what YOU want

2) Visualization

3) Break your goals into bite-sized chunks

Everyone gives this advice but don’t nobody listen.

We live in a “dream BIG” culture. Everyone wants to reach for the stars, to stretch themselves out of their comfort zone, to do things they never imagined.

But you can get paralyzed when you’re dreaming so big that you don’t know what comes first or when to make a move or how to even get started in the first place.

Take my upcoming retreat for example. How do you go from thinking about an event that draws women from all over the country to actually planning and executing that vision? I was stuck on how to go about it since I’ve never done anything on this scale before.

So I had to break it up into mini goals I could handle.

First? I got a project manager, someone who could guide me along the path.

Second, I surveyed potential attendees who I could make sure my goals for the event aligned with theirs.

Third, I researched locations and optimal times of year to hold the retreat.

Suddenly, by taking my big goal and creating smaller, more manageable goals, I was able to inch closer and closer to my final goal.

And that’s all this step is. Giving yourself smaller, completely doable goals that will add up to you doing the thing you always wanted.

For those of you in school, you might break your “I want to graduate” goal into semester-long goals:

  • Find a study partner for Chemistry
  • Go to the library twice a week to work on capstone project
  • Meet with my advisor once per semester

Planning small to dream big is how you avoid getting paralyzed and continue to move forward toward your goals.

Next up: Roll up your sleeves

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